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Nuke

5 staff members inhale plutonium in Japan lab accident


RT
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 19:01 UTC
Oarai Research and Development Center
© Kyodo/Reuters
Oarai Research and Development Center
Japanese authorities are unsure about the medical prognosis for five staffers who inhaled toxic plutonium after mishandling it at the Oarai Research and Development Center outside Tokyo.

"As far as I can remember, no one has inhaled plutonium at this level," said Ishikawa Keiji, a security official at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) which oversees the lab, cited by the Jiji Press news agency.

The accident occurred at 11:15am on Tuesday in the analysis room of the facility dedicated to researching improved nuclear fuel for its fast reactors.

One of the five men opened a metallic cylinder where the fuel, a mixture of uranium and plutonium, is stored before and after experiments. In the process, the double plastic wrapping inside which the radioactive material is kept ripped, and the toxic substance burst into the air.

Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), which has frequently criticized the JAEA for the conditions at its facilities, said "workplace complacency" was possibly to blame.

The NRA said the workers had never experienced a similar plastic rip before, and as a result, did not feel the need to complete their research in a tightly sealed environment.
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Smoking

Myanmar's largest city to ban smoking in public areas


Xinhua
Tue, 06 Jun 2017 12:17 UTC
Myanmar man smoking
© Frontier Myanmar
Myanmar government is planning to ban smoking in public areas in Yangon, official media reported Tuesday.

With the help of Public Health Foundation which is a non-profit organization aiming for universal health care in the country, the government is exerting efforts to implement a project of establishing 20 smoke-free zones in 20 years in the former capital.

For the purpose of protecting citizens, especially young people, from being impacted by smoke-related health problems, the authorities will set up smoke free areas in sports arenas and stadiums, public parks, playgrounds, schools, universities, bus stops, cinemas, markets, hospitals and pagodas.

The project will also be effective for non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke from potential diseases, including lung cancer, asthma, stroke and coronary heart disease.
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Snowflake

Lawyers claim 'Trump violated Twitter users' First Amendment rights' by blocking them


RT
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 19:48 UTC
US Flag Twitter social media
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
A legal group wants US President Donald Trump to unblock users from his Twitter account, arguing that his account constitutes a "designated public forum." Blocking individuals is, therefore, a violation of constitutional rights, the lawyers claim.

On Tuesday, lawyers from the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sent a letter to Trump, asking him to unblock the Twitter accounts of two individuals who they say were blocked because "they disagreed with, criticized, or mocked" his actions as president.

They argue that Trump's Twitter account @realDonaldTrump is a "designated public forum" and blocking any users from the account based on their viewpoints would be considered a violation of their First Amendment rights.

Comment: Interesting how, when it comes to Trump's Twitter account, 'free speech' is actually a public concern. But say anything that's even potentially 'offensive' to libruls and you might land yourself in a hostage situation.

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Propaganda

UK's 'fake news' media trolled for blatant anti-Labour headlines


RT
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 19:48 UTC
UK Corbyn propaganda fake news terror attack elections
© DailyMailUK / Twitter
Just a day before Britons go to the polls for the general election, a number of UK newspapers are facing scathing criticism for running blatant anti-Labour front pages, including the Daily Mail's branding of party figures as 'Apologists for terror.'

The damning headline is blazed across the paper's front, page hanging above pictures of Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

Comment: The fake news media sure is doing its best to make sure Corbyn doesn't get in. But people just aren't buying it, as RT reports:
The socialist was depicted on the front pages of the Daily Mail and the Sun as an "apologist for terror," less than 24 hours before voting starts.

But 'Corbynistas' across the country are not taking the accusations lying down and have started a rapidly trending hashtag on Twitter, ironically called #LastMinuteCorbynSmears.

"Your future Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn puts milk in his tea FIRST. #LastMinuteCorbynSmears," wrote a Twitter user named Lauren Gavaghan.

"Corbyn buys jam at Waittose [sic] and steams the stickers off to pretend he made it," wrote another.

A man named Dan joked: "Corbyn assassinated JFK and was back in London in time for eating worlds rarest and most prized green bell pepper."

"Jeremy Corbyn once took a holiday in the 1980s and is now a tourist sympathiser," wrote Nick Waddell, directly mocking the tabloids' headlines.
For more election shenanigans, check out: UK Election Rigging Begins: Postal ballot papers 'have gone missing' in Plymouth

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Heart - Black

Thousands of German men claiming paternity of refugee children in exchange for cash


RT
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 19:48 UTC
fatherhood paternity man son father boy
© imagebroker / Christian Reister / Global Look Press
German men are profiting off migrants by falsely claiming to be the fathers of refugee children in exchange for cash, prosecutors say. The scheme allows for migrant children to become citizens and for their mothers to stay in Germany.

Pregnant women are paying German men several thousand euros to claim they are the fathers of their children, according to an investigation by German media outlet RBB. The women - who typically enter the country on tourist visas - come from various parts of the world, including Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The men have very little to lose in the transaction as they are typically unemployed. Thus, the state becomes responsible for supporting the women and children through welfare payments.
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MIB

How a CIA whistleblower experiences time in prison

David Swanson
Dissident Voice
Fri, 02 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
CIA prison Kiriakou
John Kiriakou's Doing Time Like a Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison paints a disturbing portrait of a U.S. prison in which Kiriakou spent time as retribution for having admitted that the CIA used torture. His ongoing whistleblowing on the state of U.S. prisons, as well as on the ways in which the U.S. government has gone after him, is as valuable as his opposition to CIA torture.

The prison as described in the book is largely unaccountable to the rule of law. Prisoners in need of medical attention are simply allowed to die, or hastened along toward death by sadistic or incompetent malpractice. Education for prisoners is nonexistent. Rehabilitation efforts are nonexistent. Slave labor is universal. Those who leave, leave having acquired additional skills and attitudes of criminals. This prison system serves not to protect, not to rehabilitate, not to compensate or make restitution, and not to reduce crime.

Kiriakou also paints what I find a disturbing portrait of himself. In his view, prison requires vicious and manipulative behavior to survive. Perhaps it does. And perhaps it is an act of significantly brave honesty for Kiriakou to show himself to us degraded by such behavior. Perhaps it is all the more so to the extent that he depicts himself enjoying it. Yet he describes his prison-survival techniques as having come straight out of his CIA work, which he engaged in for years and about which he claims unmitigated pride. In addition, Kiriakou describes his approach to writing and publishing as self-serving and manipulative, and repeatedly urges us to never trust anyone, all of which leaves one wondering.
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Post-It Note

Trump's tweets are strategic - and the media has been played by them

Bill Murray
Real Clear Politics
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 00:00 UTC
Trump Tweets
About 18 months ago, back when the world was young, I examined candidate Donald Trump's success in using social media - in particular Twitter - to circumvent the mainstream media and speak directly to the electorate. There was nothing new in this general approach - candidates and officeholders have taken pains to control their messaging for at least the past century, but Trump seemed to have struck political gold.

Now, roughly five months into his administration, we see how the things have played out. Not only is Trump president, but his Twitter base has grown from 5 million to 31 million. Instead of acknowledging the advent of a potent new mode of presidential communication, the very people Trump is trying to bypass — the traditional media — have derided and mocked his use of this technology. To be sure, the president's indiscriminate and sometimes intemperate tweets have made an irresistible target. In the past few days, he has used Twitter to pick an odd fight with London's mayor while seemingly undermining the Justice Department's legal rationale of his travel ban.

Yet the Fourth Estate's knee-jerk opposition to Trump does a disservice to the electorate.
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Handcuffs

Anjem Choudary, Islamist hate preacher, may be released next year


RT
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 10:11 UTC
Choudary
© Velar Grant / Global Look Press
No such thing as "Free Preach."
Notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary, accused of radicalizing the London Bridge terrorists, could be released from prison by the end of next year having served less than half of his sentence. Choudary was jailed last September for five-and-a-half years after being convicted of drumming up support for Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

The 49-year-old British-born co-founder and leader of outlawed group al-Muhajiroun was charged after posting a series of YouTube videos recognizing the "caliphate" created by IS in Iraq and Syria. Because he spent almost five months on remand while awaiting sentence, he could be freed from jail as early as December 2018 and no later than the end of January 2019, according to the Daily Mail.

Choudary is believed to have links to Khuram Butt, 27, who is thought to have led the trio of terrorists who ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge in a hired van, before stabbing their victims in pubs and bars around Borough Market on Saturday night. Eight people were killed. Butt's known links to banned terror group al-Muhajiroun and Choudary will raise serious questions over why he was not stopped prior to the atrocity.


Comment: Releasing the preacher known for his hate speech, will put a period on the end of his sentence. Will it do as much for his activities? See also:

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Quenelle

Local UK paper sticks it to Theresa May with a vengeance on final day of campaign

Kerry-anne Mendoza
The Canary
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 15:45 UTC
Theresa May
The Blackpool Gazette has delivered a fatal blow to the Theresa May campaign, with an act of local defiance that has gone national.

The front page

The Conservative campaign has deployed wrap-around adverts in local papers across the country. This means that the paper itself is literally wrapped in pages of Conservative campaign literature. When The Blackpool Gazette took the call for a half-page ad on their front page, this is what happened:

While taking Conservative cash to place the ad, The Blackpool Gazette ran a headline above it which read: Poverty-hit families are forced to rely on food bank handouts. And inside, the paper ran a special report detailing the impact of Conservative austerity on local families.
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Info

'Three Asian girls chanting Allah' stab woman on London high street


RT
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 15:52 UTC
Hermon Hill
© Google map
A nursery worker has been stabbed on a London high street by three young women reportedly chanting "Allah," but police say the incident was not related to terrorism.

Karrien Stevens, who runs the Little Diamonds nursery in Hermon Hill, confirmed that one of her employees, aged in her 30s, was stabbed in the arm while walking to work on Wednesday morning.

The victim was on Wanstead High Street in north London when she was attacked.

Although Stevens reported the attackers chanted "Allah" as they carried out the assault, police have confirmed they are not treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
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